9/8

Chocolate Chip Pizza

Cookies, Desserts, Food, Pizza, Sweet
By Emma Chapman

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza (via abeautifulmess.com) When I was in high school through my first year of college, I worked at a pizza place. It’s a chain, so I won’t tell you the exact name, but in order for this story to make any sense at all, you have to know that it was a pizza place that doesn’t bake pizzas. Like you go there to buy an uncooked pizza, you take it home, and then you bake it. It’s not frozen, it’s just not cooked yet.

So I actually really liked working at the pizza place. I was friends with everyone who worked there, and it was always really busy. So time went by fast. Which I liked because before that, I had worked at a dollar store, and I didn’t have much to do. So it was really boring and felt like every shift lasted forever. I like staying busy.

Anyway, there were only two drawbacks to working at the pizza place. 1.) Your clothes, and especially your shoes, would always end up smelling like cheese and sausage. It was pretty gross. So you basically had to have one pair of shoes that were “work shoes” so that the sausage smell didn’t work its way into your entire closet. 2.) Since our pizzas were uncooked and the place didn’t have ovens (Why would they? They don’t bake pizzas, after all.), snacks where a tough thing to come by. There were no oh-someone-didn’t-pick-up-this-pizza-so-now-we-can-eat-it moments.

The lack of snacks could be a little demoralizing at times. I mean, it was a bunch of high school kids working from right after school let out to just after 9pm when the pizza place would close. So we got hungry and often didn’t remember to bring snacks (the obvious solution).

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza (via abeautifulmess.com)Luckily, there was another pizza place next door. That’s right, we had a competitor just steps away from our pizza place and they had one major difference…they had ovens. They baked their pizzas.

Now whether our manager would have actually been upset with us or not, we all felt it was important that if we did cross over into enemy territory to get a cooked pizza, we had to be stealthy about it. We couldn’t just walk over there in our uniform, pick up a pizza, and then stroll through the front door so our customers could see that we were supporting our rival. Oh no—it was a top secret affair. And more often than not, the group voted to buy a chocolate chip pizza. Which was basically a giant chocolate chip cookie baked on top of a pizza crust. It was divine, although I suspect part of the appeal was the “forbidden fruit” aspect of the whole thing.

I have many fond memories of eating chocolate chip pizza with my fellow pizza slingers. It was our secret, and it was delicious. I was immediately transported back to that era when I took my first bite of this homemade version. This is how I love chocolate chip pizza. It is, in my humble opinion, the best kind of dessert pizza. I hope you will agree. 🙂

Best pizza dough recipeChocolate Chip Pizza, serves 8-10 (as a dessert).

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (you can replace up to 1/2 cup with whole wheat if you like)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
big pinch (approximately 1/8 teaspoon) sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Dissolve the sugar in the warm water. Then sprinkle the yeast over the top. Allow that to sit and activate for 5 minutes. The yeast should begin to look kind of foamy, a good sign. That means it’s doing its job. If your yeast doesn’t seem to change at all (doesn’t foam), check the expiration date on your container of yeast.

In a large bowl stir together the flour, salt, yeasty water mixture and olive oil until a soft dough ball forms. Sprinkle your counter with flour and knead 3-4 times. Lightly oil your bowl (you can use the same one) and return the dough ball. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free spot for about an hour or until it has nearly doubled in size.

Chocolate chip cookie dough recipeFor the cookie dough:

1/2 cup softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips (I used a mix of crushed Heath bar and mini chips.)

Cream together the butter and sugar. The mixture should begin to lighten in color. Stir in the egg and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Refrigerate until you’re ready to use it.

How to make chocolate chip cookie pizzaOnce the (crust) dough has risen, roll out until very thin. Bake at 375°F for 5 minutes while you get the cookie dough ready. It’s good to give the bottom crust just a little head start like this because we’ll be adding a dense, moist top layer to it with the cookie dough. So it allows the inside to bake some before then. I also think a pizza stone comes in really handy for this recipe, as it helps the bottom crust stay crispy. But if you don’t have one, that’s OK too.

Use your clean hands to smash the cookie dough into a large disc, just smaller than the crust. Do this on a piece of plastic wrap. Once the crust has baked for 5 minutes, remove from the oven and carefully flip the cookie dough over the top, peeling off the plastic wrap before popping it all back in the oven. Bake for another 18-20 minutes until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before slicing into it.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza (via abeautifulmess.com) You could serve this with a scoop of ice cream, whipped cream or chocolate sauce drizzled on top for an even more decadent presentation. I personally think it’s just perfect as it, but that’s just me. 🙂 Give this a try some time when you have friends over—it’s seriously such a fun treat! xo. Emma

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.

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Chocolate Chip Pizza

Servings 8

Ingredients

For the crust:

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour you can replace up to 1/2 cup with whole wheat if you like
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • big pinch approximately 1/8 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

For the cookie dough

  • 1/2 cup softened butter
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Dissolve the sugar in the warm water. Then sprinkle the yeast over the top. Allow that to sit and activate for 5 minutes. The yeast should begin to look kind of foamy, a good sign. That means it's doing its job. If your yeast doesn't seem to change at all (doesn't foam), check the expiration date on your container of yeast.
  2. In a large bowl stir together the flour, salt, yeasty water mixture and olive oil until a soft dough ball forms. Sprinkle your counter with flour and knead 3-4 times. Lightly oil your bowl (you can use the same one) and return the dough ball. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free spot for about an hour or until it has nearly doubled in size.
  3. Cream together the butter and sugar. The mixture should begin to lighten in color. Stir in the egg and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Refrigerate until you're ready to use it.
  4. Once the (crust) dough has risen, roll out until very thin. Bake at 375°F for 5 minutes while you get the cookie dough ready. It's good to give the bottom crust just a little head start like this because we'll be adding a dense, moist top layer to it with the cookie dough. So it allows the inside to bake some before then. I also think a pizza stone comes in really handy for this recipe, as it helps the bottom crust stay crispy. But if you don't have one, that's OK too.
  5. Use your clean hands to smash the cookie dough into a large disc, just smaller than the crust. Do this on a piece of plastic wrap. Once the crust has baked for 5 minutes, remove from the oven and carefully flip the cookie dough over the top, peeling off the plastic wrap before popping it all back in the oven. Bake for another 18-20 minutes until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before slicing into it.

 

 

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